Chelsea Tanner is a barrister with her own set of balls. She’s tough, she’s never lost a case and she’s now s**I received an ARC for an honest review.

Chelsea Tanner is a barrister with her own set of balls. She’s tough, she’s never lost a case and she’s now staring down her opportunity to secure a partnership at her firm.

And his name is Paciano Fratelli.

On trial for murder, it’s no secret that Paciano (“Pacer”) has everything but clean hands. Associated with one of the biggest crime families in Sydney, Pacer needs Chelsea to keep him out of prison. But to the two of them, his trial isn’t the only obstacle they’ll face.

“It’s a wild feeling, laced with vulnerability. I never want her to know just how undone she makes me.”

It most of our coveted smut dramas, you have a good guy and a bad guy. But what happens when those lines get so hazy you don’t know who is good or bad anymore?

You get this hot little number.

It’s no secret that I hate when you can predict story lines (and their impending obstacles) from the get-go. Chelsea and Pacer kept me guessing to the very end (that ending though!!)

“But with her, it’s different. I want to love her. I need to lover her, and i’m going to love her.”

Here are my main reasons for loving this story:1) It isn’t just her: I loved that Pacer was just as unraveled as Chelsea was. I don’t want to hear how torn apart she is about loving someone with a dark past, I want to know he’s just as confused by his sudden and fierce attraction to Chelsea.2) Blurred lines between good and evil: Yes, Pacer is a known murderer. Yes, Chelsea works for the law. But despite the obvious, both of them have to deal with the good guy being bad, and a bad guy wanting to do the right thing.3) Unpredictability: I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and boy did it! Never underestimate the power of a solid epilogue (and post-epilogue!)

“She does something to me—stirs a fire inside me, and I never handle fire very well.”

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like this story as much as I did. I was prepared for something dark and twisted and what I got was so much more than a sketchy fairy tale.

While most of town has spent generations thereBent Not BrokenBy Julia Goda3.5 Stars

Ivey Jones is unlike anyone else in the small town of Cedar Creek.

While most of town has spent generations there, Ivey found their small piece of calm in an effort to run from her abusive past. After running to protect herself, Ivey opens a small bookstore and builds emotional walls so high, no one has been able to break through.

Until Cal Bennett got tired of waiting for her to see him.

“Promise you what? I asked, though I didn’t really want to know. “Promise me to be open and let what happens happen.”

Turns out, Cal can be a persistent man and doesn’t mind pushing Ivey’s buttons to get her to see she’s been hiding from not only her past, but truly enjoying the life she’s escaped to. Like most of our favorite Alpha Males, he won’t take “NO” as an answer and all but forces Ivey into spending time with him and his young son, Tommy.

“Like a freakin’ clairvoyant-pain-in-my-ass”

I liked the premise of this story…I mean who wouldn’t want to own a bookstore??? But I felt like I was skimming through some of the chapters. While the actual story was fantastic, some of the dialogue was hard to wrap my head around. I don’t know any other way than to describe it as “preachy.” I wanted the dialogue to feel more real, rather than a long, drawn-out, preach/rant. It was as if all of the internal dialogue was spoken out loud…

Aside from that, I actually did enjoy Ivey and Cal’s story. I liked that Cal was Alpha but knew that he was working with someone who was fragile. I LOVE that Ivey realizes she’s been shut-out on her own and finds the strength to overcome everything that has happened to her.

Hallelujah to finding a female character that wants to save herself! All too often this genre relies on our strong male to save the day, sometimes you just need to know that your heroine can do the ass-kicking.

“I wanted to believe this was real. It felt too good not to want this to be real. Please let this be real.”

So long as you can look past some of it’s quirks, this is definitely worth picking up....more